All the photos shown are taken on events by group members...thank you to are talented group photographers Alex, the David's, Mike and many others..

Who are we?

We were established 2008 and haverun well over 220 events and hosted over 4500 people since we started in 2008. We usually run around 50 events per year ranging from mid week evening social events such as treasure hunts and kayaking sessions, to weekend and week long UK and overseas hiking trips to Europe and beyond.

In 2014 we are proud to say that we ran weekends in over 22 different locations covering the breadth of the UK from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands and from Pembrokeshire to Norfolk. In addition to this we have hosted trips in over 8 different European locations and we are constantly striving to offer new an interesting trips. We are confident in 2015 there will be even more events and places that we will be visiting.

This has been very popular with our members, so popular that we are proud to recognise that other younger groups have started offering similar events to those offerred by AAA. We are indeed flattered by any imitation as the more groups offering trips is good for everyone. We for our part will still continue to strive to provide popular destinations at affordable prices with a strong emphasis on providing quality food and good hikes.

Our most popular events are weekend hiking trips to locations around the UK.

Who attends our events?

The majority of our active members range in age between the mid 20s to late 40s, but age is no barrier so long as you are at least young at heart. Members generally live or work in the greater London area, but we have an ever-increasing number of members who live all over the UK and join us in the destination. After all you don’t need to live in London to visit the Lake District!

A large proportion of our members are international, providing an interesting and diverse mix of experiences and cultures. We also have a significant proportion of single members on events, although you certainly don’t need to be single to attend.

If you are nervous about committing to a weekend trip, don't be, almost everyone has turned up on an event before without knowing anyone. We all know what its like. If you are still concerned try one of our evening or day events, they act as a taster and you are sure to meet like minded people.

What do we do?

We organise the logistics for our hiking trips so that you don’t have to. We find the locations, book the venues and organise all catering for weekends. We even help co-ordinate transport and lift shares.

Our aim is to explore and hike in picturesque and beautiful rural locations throughout the British Isles and beyond. We regularly visit all of the UK’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Whilst we often repeat visits to the many great National Parks we do vary the locations we stay at as best as we can. We certainly don't repeat the same venues and walks over and over again just because we have a hike or hostel that works and is easy to repeat. One look at our past events will show you the variety of places visited.

EVENING SOCIALS

We arrange a host of evening events that usually provide an element of activity. We believe its better to get people together and involved in an activity that they can participate in rather than just organising a Meetup in a pub. However, we normally conclude our events with a social drink or two in pub.

We organise a number of day walks and activities throughout the year. These usually depart from a central London station and the hikes normally start at location 60-90 minutes outside of London in areas of scenic beauty. If you live close to the start of the hike let us know and join us there. We look to organise everything so all you need to do is turn up and we will have your tickets and everything ready. Our hikes are led by very capable navigators with years of map reading experience. UIn fact one of our hike leaders spent most of his military life navigating at night, so he's releived to be allowed out navigating during the day light hours.

Typically we organise two or more weekends per month in all parts of the UK. Trips usually involve a visit to the National Parks or an Area of Natural Beauty throughout the UK. Sometimes we organise optional activities that can range from Yoga to cycling. Recently we have included climbing & Abseiling, Caving, Canoeing, Scrambling, Kayaking, Surfing. and wine tasting. But nothing is off limits so if you have an idea let us know.

Normally we hire for exclusive use a Youth Hostel or similar accommodation, sometimes it can be a hotel or lodge. AAA almost always host the breakfast and evening meals as we are very particular about maintaining out reputation for providing quality food on our weekends. We will be there to greet you on arrival and allocate rooms etc. There is always a warm supper on a Friday night followed by some cake. The weekends then take on a well rehearsed routine that ensure we can maximize on the time for hiking.

We try where possible not to repeat weekends and if we do we do so in different seasons. However, some locations like Snowdon and the Brecon Beacons are always very popular and worth repeating.

OVERSEAS TRIPS

We enjoy experiencing new places and we are sure you do to. So we are always looking to host hiking orientated trips in new overseas locations. We typically organise the accommodation, catering etc as well as plan with detail the hikes in the local areas. Often we will pick you up from the local airport or provide you with details to organise your own transfers to the accommodation. We will even recommend flights and help you co-ordinate your travel arrangements with others in the group.

When we are in the location we help to facilitate additional activities from mountain biking, paragliding, white water rafting, wine tasting or local sightseeing trips.

Why do we do it?

Quite simply we love the outdoors and making the most of this beautiful country we live in and what better way than to do it by meeting new friends.

Many of our members have made new life long friends after trips, some have developed into loving relationships and we know of at least three couples that have met and got married after meeting on our events.

How do we do it?

We create appealing trips that are affordable to all. They are affordable because we generally use Youth Hostels and cater for ourselves and everyone helps and contributes towards the weekend.

The food you enjoy has been said by many to be the best they have experience on any Meetup event. We strive to ensure we provide a cooked breakfast, not just a cold continental buffet, after all if you are setting off on a days hike you want a hearty meal. We set everything up in the morning for you to make your own sandwiches with fillings of your own choice. A AAA dinner is always very popular wholesome ingredients including a variety of salads, vegetarian dishes as well a typical main selection followed by a dessert and cake. After super we all get to relax and socialise, sometimes with some games, which ever is most fitting.

What type of activities do we do?

Over the years we have offered a wide range of events. These have included;

And there are many other activities we would like to give a try in the future such as sailing, scuba diving, static line parachuting, sky diving, exercise boot camps, target shooting, clay pigeon shooting etc…

Where do we visit?

Our usual destinations include the national park of United Kingdom such as;

High Atlas mountains, the Pyrenees, the Dolomites, Granada Mountains, Slovenia, Croatia, France, Swiss & French Alps and the Ukraine.

[note 1]

We have plans for trips to Norway, Kilimanjaro, Andalucía and as the group flourishes we will offer many more too!

Safety

Our main hike leaders have undertaken Mountain Leader Training and or the Military equivalent training as well as outdoor Activity First Aid course. Above all our hike leaders have decades of outdoor hiking and leading experience in wide range of terrains, activities and professional and non-professional roles. In addition to mountain experience some of our leaders have benefited from extensive military experience which has included extensive practical first aid training.

Note 1

The destinations and activities listed are examples of eventsAAA have organised or part of a AAA event.They are not places and events added here toimprove our Meetup search ratings. This is evident when you look at our past events. Other groups claim to run a variety of event types to a wide variety of places, yet in the next breath state they have a well established set of walks and weekends. If in doubt about our credentials look at our past events.